Hasta La Ideas

If you are among the two million people who would have liked to expose their senses to the biggest revolution in cooking since the discovery of fire by visiting the legendary elBulli restaurant on Spain’s Costa Brava, but didn’t manage to do so before it closed two years ago, here comes a consolation: The Art of Food show in the Embankment Galleries of London’s Somersethouse narrates the story of the elBulli restaurant and its protagonists in an engaging and well-executed exhibition.

Drawings and carefully crafted putty models preceded every new dish that Ferran Adria put on the table.

The work in the upper gallery focuses mainly on the molecular cooking techniques developed by Ferran Adria and his brother Albert Adria, whereas the lower showroom provides (via countless photographs and personal memrobilia) an intimate view into how the elBulli restaurant came into existence and how it developed over the years into the Mekka of New Cuisine. In the late 80’s, chef and elBulli co-owner Ferran Adria’s priority shifted from simply creating dishes, to create concepts and techniques that would be capable of making diners live experiences.

This giant meringue Bulli (french bulldog) was created for the final dinner at the elBulli restaurant in 2011. It’s now on show in London’s Somersethouse.

By doing so, he is an artist and a chemistry professor in equal measure (holding a honorary doctorate of Barcelona University), while being considered the most influential chef of the past two decades. To put it with the words of Richard Hamilton (a passionate disciple of Adria’s cuisine): “Ferran did for cooking what Shakespeare did for language—he completely re-invented its vocabulary”.

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This small wooden hut is a combined guest house and sculpture studio perching on the edge of Lake George in upstate New York (+ slideshow).

American architect Jeffery Poss worked with Chicago-based WORKUS Studio to design the two-storey Polygon Studio in the surrounding woodland of an existing house.

The studio is built at a vantage point overlooking the lake. A tiny wooden balcony juts out from a top-floor loft to offer a view through the trees and down a flight of steps towards the water’s edge.

The ground floor features a spacious area for sculpture work with shelving for equipment on one wall and large sliding glass doors opposite. The guest room occupies a mezzanine that juts out overhead.

“The interior result is a series of very distinct yet interconnected spaces,” architect Jeffery Poss said.

Vertical panels of locally-milled red cedar line the interior walls to create a cosy interior that references ski lodges and saunas.

The building has a zig-zagging profile formed by a pair of gables, also clad in cedar panels. The remaining exterior walls and roof are covered in galvanised steel siding.

A small square window offers a glimpsed view through one of the walls, while sliding glass doors face out onto the lake and provide the main source of natural light.

Comparing the project to the rustic local style, the architect added: “The exterior cladding references Adirondack rural vernacular and helps emphasise the spatial conception.”

Jeffery Poss previously designed a tea house with a roof that funnels water onto on adjacent pond.

Other studios in the woods to feature on Dezeen include a writer’s hideaway, also in upstate New York, and a wooden treehouse housing an artists’ studio in Scotland. See more studios »

Here’s a project description from the architects:

Polygon Studio

The owners of a steep lakefront residential property wanted a small studio that could serve for making sculpture and accommodating guests.

The form of the building reflects these two functions. The sculpture studio on the ground floor has both a large vertical light-filled space, as well as a lower service zone tucked under the loft.

The guest loft above forms its own gabled volume and pronounced deck. The result is a series of very distinct yet interconnected spaces.

The studio is located at the highest point of the property, along an access road that forms the western boundary. The guest space is at the pinnacle of the site, 130 steps up from the water’s edge.

This vista allows elevated tree-filtered views of Lake George. The exterior cladding references Adirondack rural vernacular and helps emphasise the spatial conception.

Galvanised steel siding wraps the gables and north end. Locally milled red cedar covers the polygonal east and west sides.

The cedar is reintroduced on the interior to create a warm and aromatic environment.

The post Polygon Studio by Jeffery Poss
and WORKUS Studio appeared first on Dezeen.

This is one of the more fascinating experiments in small-space living that we’ve ever seen. Seattle-based engineer Steve Sauer wanted to see if he could turn a 182-square-foot storage unit with a single window into a liveable space, and he then decided to build it himself. Not only do we feel he’s succeeded admirably, we’re not sure which we admire more: Sauer’s incredibly creative use of multi-level space, his unwillingness to compromise on materials, his self-machined plumbing, his IKEA-hacked surfaces… the list goes on.

The design of this space and its various features would be impossible to explain through still photographs, so thankfully there’s video. Check out how bike-nut Sauer fit multiple bikes inside, peep his in-floor soaking tub, the ingenious kitchen-bin shower cubbies, and the bike shift lever in the showerhead mount. Sauer earns his living designing aircraft interiors for Boeing, but we wish he’d spend more time designing spaces down here on the ground.

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L’artiste français Fesson Ludovic s’approprie des éléments naturels et les réintègre à l’environnement dont ils sont issus, faisant d’eux des sculptures à la fois magnifiques et complexes. Reflets et ombres deviennent part intégrante de son oeuvre. Un travail incroyable à découvrir en images.

Portrait by Ira Lippke

This is the latest installment of our Core77 Questionnaire. We’ll be posting a new interview every other Tuesday.

Name: Lindsey Adelman

Occupation: Industrial designer

Location: New York City

Current projects: Developing a new lightbulb. Planning my next video. Designing the business. And building hundreds of chandeliers.

Mission: To always ask “What if…?” To design with care. To believe in what I put out there.

One of the latest versions of Adelman’s Branching Bubble chandeliers. Photo by Sam Kweskin

Above and below: Adelman’s studio in New York City. All remaining photos by Lauren Coleman

When did you decide that you wanted to be a designer? I first heard about industrial design when I was 22, working for the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. I was walking through the exhibition fabrication department, and a woman was carving fake French fries out of foam. It looked like a lot more fun than my editorial job. I asked what she was—and she told me, an industrial designer. So I applied to RISD and that was that.

Education: I have a B.A. in English from Kenyon College and a B.F.A. from the Rhode Island School of Design.

First design job: I suppose it was in grade school, because I always did the programs and posters and props for all our plays, even though I did not know what design was. And of course I signed them really big.

Who is your design hero? There are many throughout history, but right now it’s Nendo.

Above and below: Blowing glass and applying gold foil to an Adelman chandelier-in-progress

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